cthia wrote:I think one factor that stuck in Styles' craw was the fact that this Admiral from another navy was attempting to utilize and give orders to officers in his navy that should have given allegiance to him.
Another thing I didn't understand is why most everyone on the island had heard the legends of Harrington, with the sole exception of Styles.
Echoes of Honor wrote:The fact that he'd been captured so early meant he'd been on Hell since before even the Battle of Hancock or her duel with Pavel Young. More recently captured personnel could have brought him up to date - in fact, for all Honor knew some of them had tried to do just that - but it hadn't taken. In his mind, the Grayson Space Navy was still some sort of comic opera, local-defense fleet and Honor was a mere commodore with delusions of grandeur. He didn't appear to believe that the Fourth Battle of Yeltsin - or, for that matter, the Battle of Hancock - had ever happened, and he regarded her claim to admiral's rank as an outright lie. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing more than a ploy to allow her to retain the command which should have rightfully been his, and her senior subordinates were all in cahoots with her to make it stand up.
Styles never even saw the Hancock aftermath. As far as he was concerned, the last he'd heard of Harrington was after the events of HotQ. He missed out on Hancock, the Young court martial and duel, her exile, Fourth Yeltsin, her return and success in Silesia.
Remember the perception Admiral Parks had of her, when she showed up at Hancock?
"Harrington," he murmured. "Now, isn't that just peachy?"
"She's an outstanding officer, Sir," Capra replied, and Parks' nostrils flared in a silent snort.
"She's a damned hothead with no self-control is what she is!" Capra said nothing, and Parks grimaced. "Oh, I know all about her combat record," he said testily, "but she ought to be kept on a leash! She did a good job in Basilisk, but she could have been more diplomatic about it. And that business about assaulting an envoy in Yeltsin-"
He shook his head, and Capra bit his tongue.